Cleveland, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cleveland, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Cleveland lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Cleveland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cleveland — the short answer
Cleveland, Mississippi: USDA zone 8b, about 282 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 22
- Bolivar County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 1
- Bolivar County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~282
- Bolivar County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 5K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Bolivar County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Cleveland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cleveland's 282-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cleveland
Each reading below is measured for Cleveland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCleveland runs about 282 days between hard freezes (read from Bolivar County, the closest normal to Cleveland) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredCleveland sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Cleveland is in
Cleveland sits in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cleveland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bolivar County.
What Grows in Cleveland
Every plant below cleared Cleveland's own zone 8b and its 282-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cleveland?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Cleveland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cleveland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Joe's TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- Bst Cleveland Co 73103Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Denton DairyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Walts GulfUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Public Works CompoundUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Cleveland City HallUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Firestone Store #0666Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Mississippi Highway PatrolUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Pic A Bit #5Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Cleveland Police DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Perry's Storage CorporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Nowell Lumber CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cleveland's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Cleveland.
Total Sites
169
within ~10 miles of Cleveland
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cleveland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cleveland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cleveland, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 119 sites within ~10 miles of Cleveland. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Cleveland
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cleveland average
Your land is one point inside Cleveland
Everything above resolves to Cleveland as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Bolivar County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Cleveland Average
Cleveland Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Cleveland
- ●One soil character for all of Cleveland
- ●Frost dates read at Cleveland's scale: Feb 22 to Dec 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cleveland's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cleveland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cleveland, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cleveland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cleveland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cleveland average
How we know this about Cleveland
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Bolivar County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Cleveland
When does frost risk typically end in Cleveland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cleveland typically lands around Feb 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 15.
When is the first frost in Cleveland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cleveland typically arrives around Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 17, so the watching starts about Nov 1 — about 282 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cleveland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cleveland sees about 282 frost-free days — roughly Feb 22 through Dec 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 15 to Nov 17, about 247 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cleveland?
The federal record around Cleveland shows 169 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (119), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Cleveland?
From about Nov 1 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cleveland's scale — its 8b band and its 282-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cleveland's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Cleveland’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Cleveland's own scale — the 4,849 acres it covers and 169 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cleveland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 169 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cleveland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cleveland's boundary and the 4,849 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8b and a ~282-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cleveland's own centroid, the Mississippi Alluvial PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Cleveland has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Bolivar County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cleveland's 4,849 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bolivar County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bolivar County
- The growing challenges every Mississippi grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Mississippi
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Bolivar County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cleveland's 4,849 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cleveland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,849 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Cleveland-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Growing region